Motivated Chandler Parsons should still benefit from USA Basketball experience

DALLAS — Although his USA Basketball experience has come to an end, Dallas Mavericks new addition Chandler Parsons is still expected to benefit this upcoming season after weeks of training with the NBA’s best and brightest stars.

Saturday, Team USA announced that Parsons was one of four players to be cut as the roster trimmed from 16 to 12 prior to heading out to Spain for the start of the FIBA World Cup. Parsons then took to Twitter to wish his American teammates luck without the 25-year-old budding star, despite coming up short of accomplishing one of his summer goals.

Making it through the first round of cuts, Parsons traveled with the team to Chicago and New York last week in hopes of making it onto the final roster. However, choosing to go with a larger lineup, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski put an unexpected emphasis on size while selecting five big men to advance through the final round of cuts.

That left Parsons, who was used primarily as a stretch 4 with Team USA, out of the mix while the likes of New Orleans big man Anthony Davis, Detroit’s Andre Drummond, Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins, Brooklyn’s Mason Plumlee and Denver’s Kenneth Faried all advanced.

“That’s incredible,” Parsons said last month after receiving word that he was one of 19 players that were invited to Team USA’s training camp in Las Vegas. “That’s a huge goal of mine, and I’m extremely flattered and honored to be invited to [training camp]. I hope to go there and make the Dallas Mavericks proud, make my family proud and just compete as hard as I can and put myself in the best possible situation to make that team. And then, whatever happens from there, I’ll deal with it then.”

The 6-foot-9 Parsons started all 74 of his appearances last season for the Houston Rockets and averaged 16.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.2 steals an outing. He also connected on 47.2 percent shooting from the field and 37.0 percent from three-point range, making him a coveted player when the restricted free agent hit the open market on July 1.

After signing a three-year offer sheet with the Mavs worth a reported $46 million that Houston opted not to match, Parsons had hoped to use his Team USA experience to refine his skills prior to the start of training camp on Sept. 30. Instead, Parsons figures to be healthy and well rested for the start of camp after he could have been competing until the championship game on Sept. 14.

And with a chip on Parsons’ shoulders after not making the team, Mavs owner Mark Cuban fully expects to see a motivated new addition this season.

“You know, what [Parsons] said to me is that he wants to come in and have a phenomenal season and prove to everybody that he’s worth every penny,” Cuban told 105.3 FM The Fan last week. “He wants to be a cornerstone for the Dallas Mavericks. That’s where his head’s at.”